Australia has held on to the second automatic qualifying place in its 2026 World Cup group, with a dramatic 2-2 draw in Bahrain.

Having taken the lead after 38 seconds through Kusini Yengi, the Socceroos should have been safe before they conceded two goals in 140 seconds late in the match.

Soon after the hour-mark, Yengi hit the post with a clever piece of improvisation, but then missed a sitter. Ten minutes later Mahdi Abduljabbar seized on a mistake by Cameron Burgess to score with an outrageous 45-yard chip.

As Australia reeled, the substitute scored again, following up after debutant Hayden Matthews’ misdirected clearing header had hit the post.

But with 10 minutes of added time to be played, the Socceroos kept pushing. In the 95th minute, Yengi struck again, stabbing home in a scramble after Brandon Borello had caused problems at the back post.

The result means Australia took only partial advantage of helpful results earlier in the day in Group C.

Japan won 3-1 in China while in Jakarta unfancied Indonesia beat Saudi Arabia 2-0. That meant Australia went into the match still in the second and the last automatic qualifying place behind runaway pacesetters Japan.

The draw in Riffa means it stays there, a point ahead of the other four teams in the group. With four games left, the Socceroos could yet qualify directly, or be forced into a further qualifying stage or even finish in the bottom two and be knocked out altogether.

-AAP